Welcome to Rathlin, Northern Ireland's only inhabited island

IN 1987, following his record-breaking first transatlantic flight, Virgin’s Sir Richard Branson and his pilot Per Lindstrom crashed their hot-air balloon into the sea off Rathlin. They were fished from the water off Bull Point by boatman Tommy Cecil.

Branson donated £25,000 to the Rathlin Island Trust which was used to help turn part of the Manor House into a community centre.

Sadly, Tommy died in a diving accident in Church Bay a few years later.